Forum:Insanity squadmates
So I decided to boot my copy of Mass Effect 2 back up and start on an Insanity playthrough (having only completed Hardcore before). I'm having a hard time deciding in skill point distribution and squadmates though. Here's what I've decided so far. Class: Infiltrator Enhanced Cloak (cloak is more for getting around and escaping from gun fire, I rarely use it for damage purposes, see below) Improved AI Hacking (highly unlikely that there would be more than 1 unarmored enemy at any given time, 1 is good enough for drawing fire and doing damage) Incinerate 2 (required for AI Hacking) Power: Enhanced Dominate (same reason as AI Hacking) Squadmates so far: Miranda (No question here, her biotic abilities are incredibly useful in every situation, not to mention the enhanced squad damage) Weapon upgrade choice: M-98 Widow (It's so powerful that even on Hardcore it's pretty much a novelty for me to take it out, only the most powerful enemies deserve this weapon, although it is a life saver at times) You guys can probably guess what I am going at here, heavily relying on removing shields/armor on a single target then use Dominate and AI Hacking. While Cloak allows me to escape when things get hairy. So far it's carried me through Hardcore easily and it's worked pretty decently for the first few missions and Kasumi's Loyalty mission in Insanity. Armor easy to deal with with Heavy Incinerate and the M-98. However, shields and barriers have given me alot of trouble. So here are my questions: 1. I still have 7 points left on Shepard, I can either go for max Incinerate and level 1 Disruptor Ammo or level 3 Disruptor Ammo & level 1 Cryo Ammo. However I've noticed both has their disadvantages. I tried Heavy Incinerate and although it's incredibly powerful against armor but it does render having heavy pistols and the M-98 somewhat redundant (it does conserve M-98 ammo though), on top of that it cuts into my ability to spam Dominate/AI-Hacking AND sometimes causes deaths when I couldn't use Cloak in time. On the other hand, Disruptor Ammo will assist in solving my shield problem. But it's only going to be level 3 and 1 skill point will go to waste on Cryo Ammo. I've tried it in Hardcore and I can't say that it has helped me at all, the 40% extra damage (20% actually because if I go for Incinerate I will still have level 1 Disruptor Ammo), isn't noticeable at all. Not to mention it does nothing against barriers. 2. Other squadmate? I've tried the recommended ones such as Grunt and Legion, but none of them stands out in helping my strategy. Most of the suggestions seem to be focused in the ability to tank damage and delivering some back since Miranda covers the Biotics department. However my main focus is stripping an enemy down to its health quickly, then that enemy can tank and deliver excellent damage and my squad will receive no fire in return. Another Biotic could possibly help my squad out here. P.S. Due to how easy Hardcore is for this incredibly powerful strategy, I'm considering challenging myself to do a no weapons Insanity runthrough (not a single bullet fired from Shepard) after my current playthrough. Although the Shield/Barrier problem needs to be solved.-- 22:53, September 5, 2011 (UTC) excuse the sig, I need to import it from another wiki :I haven't played an Infiltrator on ME2 yet, but as a rule of thumb, I think your squad mate should be suited to your mission. I usually take squad mates based on the mission. Also, some squad mates work together with others very well. For example, Jacob can use Pull and Thane can detonate it with Warp. :In my opinion: :Miranda - One of my best squad mates. Can deal with armor, barriers and organic regeneration with Warp, and shields and synthetics with Overload. Also provides bonus health and damage to the entire squad. Should be a good squad mate for any character. Works well with other bitoic squad mates. Her weakness is that she isn't very good at tanking, and her weapons are more for close combat, so sometimes she falls quickly in battle Suited for pretty much any mission, so make sure she is behind cover, using her abilities more than her weapons. :Jacob - I haven't tried him much to be honest. He can tank a bit using barrier, and his Incendiary ammo (when evolved into squad incendiary ammo) can help deal with armor and unshielded organics. Pretty decent at close combat with shotguns, ut can die on harder difficulties. Works well with squad mates who have Warp, like Thane and Miranda. :Jack - I dont like using Jack much, since she has no real debuffing powers. The Squad Warp Ammo is useful, but I would rather use Squad Armor Piercing Ammo and use team mates with warp to deal with barriers. Her Shockwave is useful against husk and other opponents susceptible to biotics. She falls pretty quickly in battle, and can only fight well in close quarters. :Mordin - I used him a bit when I first got him. His Incineration Blast does a good amount of damage, and is useful for dealing with armored enemies. His Cryo Blast sucks on harder difficulties. He is quite decent on missions against organics, like Garrus's recruitment mission. But like Miranda he is only good at close quarters, and can fall fast in battle. I think he will e a poor squad mate for an infiltrator since arour is no real problem for the infiltrator. :Grunt - When loyal and fully evolved, Grunt is the best tank in the game. He can regenerate health fast and his Concussive Shot rips through Barriers, and can knock down unprotected enemies, giving you a few good potshots at them. The Incendiary ammo will further add to the Infiltrator's already significant anti-armor abilities, and is good against organics. But really, Grunt's best trait is his survivability. He is good at close quarters with shotguns and medium range with assault rifles. I usually just equip him with an assault rifle so that he doesnt run head first into enemy fire. Like Miranda, I think he is a good squad mate for any character, if you know how to use him. :Garrus - Garrus is also a great squad mate for most situations. His Concussive Shot can deal with Barriers and give you potshots. His Overload is very useful if you are having trouble with shielded enemies and Synthetics. Finally his Squad Armor Piercing Ammo makes him very useful since it gives you a whopping 50% extra damage against Armor an Health for the entire squad. And he is a good fighter at medium and long range so he tends to keep distance, making him more survivable. Even thoguh his abilities and fighting style overlaps with that of the infiltrator, I think you might still find him very useful. :Samara - I think she is one of the better biotic squad mates that a non bitoic class can use. Heavy Reave is a great power, especially against organics. It can deal with armour and barrier, and can even allow potshots against unprotected enemies. She is good at fighting medium range with her assault rile, and survives battles better than Miranda, Jack or Mordin. Works well with squad mates with Warp, like Thane and Miranda. :Tali - She is very good against synthetics with Energy Drain and AI Hacking so would be a decent squad mate to have on synthetic-heavy missions, where energy drain will increase her survivability and deal decent damage to enemies.. But her rather weak combat abilities and helplessness against organics and collectors means she shouldn't come along on those missions. :Thane - Thane can do good damage with his weapons, and he an fight medium and long range, increasing his survivability. The warp is very useful against barriers and armour, and he goes well with squad mates like Samara and Jacob who can use pull. His loyalty power can shred unprotected organics. A decent team mate to have against collectors, but really there are better choices. :Legion - Another teammate I haven't used much. I like Legion's ability to deal great damage at range with snipers (especially the Widow), and its Geth Shield boost gives him good survivability. But its lack of debuffing enemies makes it a rather poor squad mate for any class (except maybe an Engineer with Reave) in my opinion. :Kasumi - I think she is an amazing squadmate mainly due to Deadly Shadow Strike, which can deal 1100 damage to shields, armor and barrier. And it can incapacitate unprotected enemies. Only problem is its long recharge time, so dont waste it on regular troops. This is a very good power against tough, well protcted enemies. Her overload is useful against shields and Flashbang Grenade is good for crowd control. But like Miranda, Mordin and Jack, she can fall quickly in battle, and she requires some micromanagement, but she can really shine. :Zaeed - Never used him much either. His Concussive Shot can deal with barriers, and I found his Squad Disruptor Ammo quite useful against synthetics. The Inferno Grenade is also pretty decent, and he can deal quite a lot of damage thanks to his class ability. But I think there are much better squad mates available. :I would really advise you to try playing with different squad mates and see which one really suits your style of play. Personally my favourites were Miranda, Garrus, Grunt and Kasumi. Those 4 never really disappointed me. :As for your powers, don't worry too much about them. You can always retrain if you felt you made a mistake. Since enemies in Insanity are well protected, maybe you can switch Dominate for Reave, to give some real debuffing against Barriers. --RS Kossery 08:21, September 6, 2011 (UTC) ::Thx for the advice, I've settled on maxing Incinerate. I was thinking along the same lines as you, however, Kasumi's Shadow Strike is very annoying to use because it's limited by what's between you and your target, and also it takes way too long to use in a heated battle. Not to mention it's very glitchy sometimes, she will just appear behind her target and instead of striking the target and disappearing, she just stands there and shoot. Although the Flashbang is quite useful. ::Garrus is pretty powerful with the Armor-Piercing ammo, but once again. I already have the M-98 and Incinerate, adding another anti-armor specialist is quite redundant since I also have Miranda's Warp. And my strategy is determinate on leaving an enemy just with its health so I can dominate or hack, I don't want to kill it. ::Grunt is incredibly tough, but he has the tendency of charging out of cover. And on Insanity even he wont last more than 5 seconds under fire. I have a tendency of leaving squadmates out of the fight anyways, so a biotic would help me more here. ::I'm considering Samara, but does Throw work on shielded & armored enemies? I will admit that on previous playthroughs I really neglected the composition of my squadmates, I still havent tried most of them yet because on lower difficulties it's really easy to remove shields/barriers from a single target, then a dominated/hacked enemy will easily tear apart the enemy squad. ::I will not remove Dominate for another power, I'm completely dependent on it for my strategy. In Insanity, you'd be shredded by fire as soon as you expose yourself, what's better than have another person take the fire for you while your squad picks them off one by one-- 02:01, September 7, 2011 (UTC) Interesting, that's completely different from my Infiltrator build for Insanity. I take the Widow too, but I use it to one-shot low-ranking enemies to reduce incoming fire. My usual build is focused mostly around direct damage output: * Squad Disruptor Ammo (for stripping shields) * Assassination Cloak (for damage vs. tougher enemies) * Incineration Blast (for removing armor and a bit of crowd control) * AI Hacking (level 1 only, to help a little vs. mechs) * Assassin evolution of the class power (strategically retrained to Agent before big Paragon/Renegade checks, like Miranda/Jack or Tali/Legion loyalty) * Heavy Warp Ammo (good vs. everything except shields) I generally focus on reducing enemy numbers quickly with the Widow, to cut down on incoming fire, then switch to my SMG, Incinerate, and squadmate powers to take down the survivors. If you're not going the heavy damage route with your own build, you might want squadmates who can provide ammo powers, or who are good at dealing damage with powers. My recommendations: * Zaeed: If you have Zaeed take Squad Disruptor Ammo, you can skip it on Shepard entirely, opening up your build possibilities a lot. (And it took me a while to figure it out, but Disruptor Ammo is actually pretty good. Stripping shields faster is nice, and it also makes enemies' weapons overheat, which reduces incoming fire pretty noticeably, especially if the whole squad is using it.) Concussive Shot may also be useful against barriers. * Miranda: She has Warp and Overload. Nothing more needs to be said. ;-) Her squad damage bonus is nice too. * Grunt: The best tank in the game. Krogan Pureblood and Fortification make him hard to kill even on Insanity. Squad Incendiary Ammo can be nice too against krogans and vorcha, or you can go for Concussive Shot instead if you prefer. * Garrus/Thane: These two are basically tech/biotic mirrors of each other. I usually take one of them instead of Miranda for more firepower if I know I'll be facing primarily enemies with only shields or barriers, not a mix. Garrus can also bring down barriers with Concussive Shot, but he can't max out all three of Overload, Concussive Shot, and Turian Rebel without a visit to the Shadow Broker's base, so I usually focus him on tech instead. * Kasumi: Kasumi is a tricky squadmate, but very powerful in the proper circumstances. I like to get her Rapid Shadow Strike; on Insanity it'll kill basic enemies if they're down to about 2/3 health, and if Rapid Shadow Strike kills an enemy, she'll be able to use it again almost immediately after returning. You can get a pretty good rhythm going, half-killing enemies with your SMG, ducking behind cover, and sending Kasumi to finish them off; she also makes a surprisingly good tank (or at least a distraction to the enemy) with this tactic because she draws a lot of fire while executing Shadow Strike, but she stays cloaked long enough that her shields almost always regenerate by the time she returns. With your strategy, you'll be focusing on stripping protection, so Garrus/Miranda would probably be a good squad for most situations, or one of those two in combination with Zaeed if you want his disruptor ammo. In the later game, you can go for Thane/Miranda against biotics. Against the Collectors, you really want Grunt along just to have a squadmate who can survive in a nasty spot; I usually go Grunt/Miranda on Horizon and Grunt/Thane on the Collector ship. I'll be interested to know your strategy turns out -- I've never really gotten into using Dominate. Diyartifact 03:29, September 7, 2011 (UTC) :Interesting. I can't recall Kasumi messing up on her Shadow Strike. Like I said, she needs micromanagement to be really effective. On Insanity I usually turn squad auto power usage off so that I can determine how, when and which powers my squadmates use. Also, to prevent Grunt charging out, I make sure he always uses his assault rifle. I haven't really had a problem with any squad mates charging out, but maybe because I move them from cover to cover quite regularly. :In the end, the most important thing is not to play the game most efficiently, but to enjoy the game as much as possible. I still have my doubts on using Dominate and AI Hacking, since it requires stripping protection, but it really does sound like fun, forcing your enemies to fight each other. I sure would like to give it a try when I play as an Infiltrator. I think bringing Samara along might be a good idea, since her Reave is an excellent debuffer, and can give you a much needed anti-barrier capability. Zaeed's Disruptor Ammo sounds like a good idea too. --RS Kossery 06:37, September 7, 2011 (UTC) ::Kasumi occasionally is unable to get into position behind her target, and can't execute Shadow Strike properly; she re-cloaks and returns to her starting point after a second or so. If she's really unlucky, she can also get mown down by enemy fire while she's trying to make her attack. I've done a couple playthroughs with her in my party for the whole game, and she usually works out well, but it takes an unusual play style to use her effectively. (Now that I think about it, she might make a good squadmate for the no-guns Sentinel I was going to try.) ::I second the notion about not playing the game as efficiently as possible, but as enjoyably as possible. It's a game, after all! Diyartifact 22:09, September 7, 2011 (UTC) Having gone through Normal and Hardcore with relative ease and so far in Insanity recruited Mordin, Garrus, and completed Kasumi's Loyalty mission; as well as finishing Project Overlord dying a total of 3 times in the playthrough up to this point (mostly because of stupid mistakes such as getting hit by rockets and being knocked out of cover), I can vouch for the AI-Hacking & Dominate strategy. Once you control an opponent, all you have to do is have your squadmates spam powers to keep the fighting on even grounds between your "minion", and your enemies. Those are also one of the few abilities that scale well with difficulty, powers and weapons depreciates as difficulty increases. Simply because enemies become more powerful, their health & protection increases exponentially. However, Dominate & Hacking takes one of your enemies and turns them on the others, guaranteeing that the power stays just as good whatever difficulty youa re on. It doesn't have to be an Infiltrator, Engineers can also use this strategy, albeit with the fact that Ai Hacking requires BOTH Combat Drone/Cryo Blast, disallowing you to max both Incinerate & Overload. As well as not having access to the M-98. I think I'll wait until I'm able to get Samara before making a decision, right now Kasumi seems the most useful because her Shadow Strike does massive damage to everything and also distracts the enemies long enough for me to but she requires annoyingly high amounts of micromanagement, especially when I'm paying attention to keeping a dominated target. Also once I get to the Shadow Broker I can respec her Flashbang into Overload.-- 02:47, September 8, 2011 (UTC) :I'll really give your strategy a try then. It makes sense, since a tough enemy will make a tough minion. It will distract the others long enough for me to get a few shots in. Besides, if it doesn't suit my style of play, I can always retrain my powers. --RS Kossery 06:20, September 8, 2011 (UTC) :Tell me how it worked out. I ran into abit of trouble on the boss fight in Overlord. Took me a while to figure out I have nowhere nearly enough time to kill the Geth Troopers and I should just focus on the nodes. These are the few rare situations where you wish that you have something that's not Dominate/Ai-Hacking-- 02:07, September 9, 2011 (UTC)